Rumors swirl about past anthem protests affecting 2018 offseason

Rumors swirl about past anthem protests affecting 2018 offseason

Owners have every right to pick and choose who their team goes after during the offseason. They are the people signing the check at the end of the day. As we all know, the 2017 NFL season had one particular story that was covered from the beginning to the end. Protests during the national anthem was a major, if not the major storyline during the 2017 season. It apparently isn’t going away any time soon.

Let’s get this out of the way, these are rumors. This isn’t breaking news. This isn’t fact. These are whispers going around the NFL cognoscenti. Anthem protests are being considered this offseason and may have already led to a huge move.

Peter King of @theMMQB suggests Marcus Peters trade may have been prompted by player's decision to kneel during anthem. This didn't sit well with Kansas City owner and "conservative" fanbase https://t.co/zndesmqdCr

Peters had some other issues, but trading him because of peaceful protest alone would be pretty odd. Maybe the team had character concerns about Peters as well, but they looked over those concerns for players such as Tyreek Hill and Peters did nothing close to as bad as what Hill did. Maybe the Chiefs really didn’t want to pay Peters a ton of money. Even if the owner did want to trade him because of his protest, that’s the owners right. There’s no rule for or against keeping players who protest. Of course if the Chiefs secondary is affected by Peters absence and Kansas City misses the playoffs, well that’s what the Chiefs will have to live with.

There is growing buzz that the Texans won’t go after any player who participated in protests during the national anthem. That cuts out a few prospective Texans targets. Again, this is Bob McNair’s prerogative as owner of the Houston Texans. Jerome Solomon of the Houston Chronicle is the first to report on these rumors about the Texans.

So some players won’t consider the Texans because of ownership, and ownership won’t consider some players because of their protests. That cuts down on the talent pool the Texans can bring in to improve their roster. Money can do a lot to address those issues, but the whole thing still isn’t exactly ideal.

So here we are, moving into 2018 and thinking maybe the whole focus of the NFL can be on football. That was a silly thought.

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